This is an article by Carol Parker, content manager at Drugsdb.com. Carol holds a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Albany College of Pharmacy.

These days, getting sick can be a costly business, especially for those who can't afford medical insurance. Not only does a person have to worry about paying the consultation bill from the doctor, but the cost of prescriptions seems to skyrocket each time you need to have them filled.

The good news is that there are many ways to save money on your prescriptions. Although they may require some effort on your part, the savings will be well worth it.

This is an article by Justin Reames, who blogs at The Family Finances.

Growing up, I remember watching shows like "Lassie" and movies like "Old Yeller" and "Where the Red Fern Grows". These were old movies when I was a kid, but they were free to rent from the library, so we watched more than our fair share of old movies.

Because of those shows, I always thought it would have been nice to have a dog. The closest thing we had to a family pet was a turtle that my grandfather and I caught on a fishing trip. I had to keep it outside in a small tub, and after a week or two he ended up missing. Fast forward to adulthood. After buying our house in the fall of 2008, we soon decided to get a dog.

I love budget travel. Maybe it's from watching too many episodes of Europe Through the Backdoor and drinking the Rick Steves Kool-Aid, but I wonder if you'll believe me when I tell you that I wouldn't travel any other way.

Last year I was considering taking a trip with friends — an all-inclusive spa vacation at a fancy resort. Ultimately I declined because all of the selling points — meals included, C ondé Nast Traveler seal of approval, fancy spa treatments — were actually drawbacks for me. There's nothing wrong with all-inclusive trips, mind you. They're easy to plan, and you don't have to worry about where you'll eat or how you'll get from point A to point B. They're a good option for a lot of people, and even culinary adventurer Anthony Bourdain has sung the praises of staying put and vegging out.

But our vacation dollars are limited, and my husband and I like to explore. The trip would have cost double what we paid for our honeymoon to the same destination (literally right down the beach), and the honeymoon included scuba diving, cooking classes, and renting a car — things we'd have to pay extra for if we took the spa trip. I also thought about how we enjoy checking out local restaurants, but with an all-inclusive meal plan, we'd be paying for meals that were essentially covered in the trip package.

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This article was written by Lee Doppelt and originally appeared on The Dollar Stretcher.

You enjoy sauntering around your community's farmers market each Saturday morning. Besides purchasing fresh produce, baked goods, and homemade crafts for gifts, you feel good about supporting local growers and producers. Additionally, it's fun to meet friends at the market.

The wood carving that you do is a fun hobby and friends have raved about your finished projects. They've encouraged you to create more and sell them. Perhaps having a booth at the farmers market would be worth trying.

Tax Day falls on my birthday. This year, I'm giving myself the gift of a tax preparer.

Last year, in the days leading up to The Big Day, I locked myself in the home office. I emerged bleary-eyed from staring at a computer screen and mentally exhausted from climbing my way through an avalanche of paperwork and receipts. I also was hopped up on caffeine and paranoid — did I miss anything? Did I forget to carry a "1"? Was my hair on fire?

Yes, I waited until the last couple of weeks to file my return. I'll admit it. I hate doing my taxes nowadays, so I avoided it as long as possible. Continue reading...

When I was in the fourth grade, I had a bad case of FOMO.

I contracted it when I realized that all of my classmates (or so it seemed) had Nickelodeon, and I didn't. They talked about cartoons and television shows watched the night before — something about a game show where the losing contestant was "slimed."

One day, I decided to take this to the top. Continue reading...

Ever notice how most cultures have their own take on rice? Risotto in Italy, Spanish rice in Mexico, dirty rice in New Orleans, paella in Spain — all have a history as peasant food.

In fact, it could be argued that some of the most famous (and delicious) meals were invented by people who were short on time, money, and resources and had to make do with what was available.

For example, ribollita, a Tuscan soup, is made with leftover bread and vegetable soup, but it makes me wish I had day-old minestrone and stale bread in the house more often. It's the best kind of comfort food. Continue reading...

I've dropped a rather obscene amount of money on bodywork in the last few years. I've had an evolving team of chiropractors, massage therapists, and acupuncturists. I've bought books on physical therapy exercises. Some things have worked, others have not. In the end, the pain always comes back.

I have chronic shoulder pain. My arms also frequently go numb in the middle of the night. I don't mean they tingle, I mean sometimes I literally cannot move my arm. I have to use my functioning hand to reposition it and get blood flowing back into the limb. It's kinda scary.

Two (Life-Changing?) Questions

When my shoulder bothers me enough, I usually get a massage to alleviate the pain. It's a temporary fix — I know a 60-minute massage can't cure a chronic problem that's probably caused by structure and daily habits. But recently a new (to me) massage therapist asked me two questions that no one else had asked. First, she asked if I grind my teeth at night. Yes, I have in the past, and I have a TMJ (temporomandibular joint) disorder. She firmly suggested that I started wearing my night guard consistently, and in the past five days the pain has gone from a constant ache to a mild annoyance. Continue reading...

One of my goals for GRS in 2012 is to write more about earning money.

I quit my job a year-and-a-half ago to become self-employed, but I know that most people are employees, and I'm the last person who would suggest that everyone should quit their jobs and become full-time freelancers. For one thing, it's not right for everyone. It can be lonely, and it doesn't come with medical benefits, which some people need, especially those who can't get individual insurance at a reasonable cost. Depending on your career, it might not even be possible (never heard of a self-employed police officer, for example). And some people want to put in their time and leave work at work at 5 p.m., or just plain enjoy their job.

There are a lot of reasons why it makes more sense to be an employee, which is why I don't plan to only write about starting a side business or freelancing (although I do plan to cover those topics), but also how employees can earn more at their current job and make savvy career moves.

I used to be guilty of spending money on the life I thought I lived, rather than the life I was actually living. To illustrate what I mean, consider the following past expenditures:

• Snowboarding apparel, for my first and only snowboarding trip to date.
• Evening dresses from Bluefly.com. Yes, they were purchased at a big discount, but I had nowhere to wear them!
• A mountain bike. I was so dedicated to riding, for about three months.

Last week I read an article on the Psychology Today blog titled "What You Do Every Day Matters More Than What You Do Once In a While." Written by Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, the main point of the article is that people are happiest when they make decisions based on their daily life, not the life they lead every once in awhile. From the article:

In his fascinating book, House Lust, Daniel McGinn notes that market researchers use the term maximum-use imperative to describe the fact that people will often buy something to accommodate a use that they need only rarely...Along the same lines, I've noticed that when making decisions, I tend to give too much thought to what I do once in a while and not enough weight to what I do every day. For example, I wear running shoes 29 days out of 30 days a month, yet I have three pairs of black flats and only one pair of running shoes.